Chapter 307 Benefiting the Villagers
After Mrs. Hu poured out the tea, Old Man Hu greeted her warmly, "Qianhuan, come and have some tea. You are a person of status now, but it's a pity that we only have some coarse tea at home. I hope you don't mind it."
"What are you talking about, Grandpa Hu? Qianhua herself comes from a poor family, so how could she despise him?"
Old Man Hu then asked, "Did you come here today just to bring us some snacks? Is there anything else?"
"Qianhuan does have other things to discuss with you, Grandpa Hu."
Old Man Hu put down his teacup and asked curiously, "Oh? What's the matter?"
Then Qianhuan told Old Man Hu her idea.
After hearing this, Old Man Hu was so excited that he was incoherent. "Qianhua girl, you didn't lie to Grandpa Hu, did you? Are you really willing to pay for five cows for the village and build a private school for the village for free?"
Qianhuan nodded, "Well, Grandpa Hu, I dare not joke with you about this kind of thing, it's all true."
"That's great, that's great. This is a great thing that will benefit the villagers."
After saying that, Old Man Hu stood up and knelt in front of Qianhuan. Qianhuan was shocked by his action and quickly reached out to help him up. "Grandpa Hu, didn't I just tell you that you don't have to care about my identity as a county lord and you don't have to kneel down to me? Please get up quickly."
Old Man Hu shook his head firmly and said, "No, Qianhuan girl, I am not kneeling because of your status as the county lord. I am kneeling to thank you on behalf of all the villagers in Yunfeng Village. Qianhuan girl, you are the great benefactor of our Yunfeng Village."
Qianhuan helped Old Man Hu up, "Grandpa Hu, I am also a member of Yunfeng Village. Now that I have made some progress, I am very happy to be able to do something for everyone."
Then the two of them discussed the details of building a private school. Qianhuan said, "It's only two days until New Year's Eve. We definitely can't start construction before the New Year. Grandpa Hu, you can find someone to build the school after the New Year."
"Well, this can only start after the New Year. By then, it will be the off-season for farming, and it will be a great opportunity for every household to benefit. I will call on everyone to provide a laborer, and we can save a lot of labor costs."
"Well, Grandpa Hu, this is a good idea. When the private school is built, please tell everyone about it. Not only can children attend the classes, but if there are adults who want to learn to read, they can also learn during the slack season. After all, knowing a few more characters will only benefit everyone."
Old Man Hu stroked his beard and nodded, "Well, Qianhuan, you are right. I will tell everyone when the time comes."
After the chat, Qianhuan gave the village chief some money in advance, "Grandpa Hu, take this money. If there is any money left, you can buy some books and put them in the school for the children to use for free after the private school is built."
Old Man Hu took the silver and promised solemnly, "Qianhuan, you care so much about our Yunfeng Village, and I, Old Man Hu, will never let you down. I will spend all the money you gave me on the right things, and I will never embezzle a single cent."
"Well, Grandpa Hu, I believe you."
After discussing everything, Qianhuan got up, said goodbye and went home.
Old Man Hu asked her to stay for dinner. "Qianhuan, don't be in a hurry to leave. Have lunch at Grandpa Hu's house at noon. I'll ask Grandma Hu to kill a big hen and make soup for you."
She declined, "Grandpa Hu, I have to deliver some food to Uncle Zhang and Grandma Xie later, so I won't have dinner at your house today. I'll eat there when I have the chance."
Seeing this, Old Man Hu did not force it, "Okay, then I won't keep you any longer, go and do what you want."
After Qianhuan returned home, she took some candies and snacks and sent some to Uncle Zhang's family and the Xie family next door. These two families were the closest to their home and they usually took good care of them.
The people in the village soon learned that Qianhuan was going to buy cows and build a private school for the village. Everyone was very happy to hear the news. Either of these two things would be great things for them.
In the past, there was only one cow in the village, which was not enough to use during the busy farming season. If the village suddenly had five more cows, it would definitely reduce their burden during the busy farming season.
Not to mention building private schools. Who doesn't want their children to have a bright future? It's just that education is too expensive, and poor people like them don't have the ability to send their children to school.
If the village had its own private school with free teachers, it would be a great thing for them.
Originally there were a small number of people who were jealous of Qianhuan's family's wealth, but now seeing that she was so generous and doing good things for everyone, those people were no longer jealous.
Everyone praised unanimously, "This Liang Laoer family is really generous, no wonder they can become rich."
"Yes, just for their kindness towards us fellow villagers, they deserve to be prosperous."
Of course, this group of people does not include Jiang Lin’s family and the people from the Liang family’s old house.
When Old Man Liang knew about this, his face was full of approval. Although they had severed their relationship with the Second Brother's family, Qianhuan still had the blood of his Liang family. He was very happy that their Liang family had produced such a person. It was a pity that all this glory had nothing to do with them anymore.
However, Mrs. Liang didn't think so. "That damned girl Qianhuan, our Liang family raised her for so many years, and she just gave us twenty taels of silver and wanted to cut ties with us. No matter what, we are her grandparents. She has so much spare money but she doesn't want to give it to us. Instead, she buys cows and builds a private school for those unrelated villagers. She is really ungrateful."
Zhu quickly chimed in, "Yes, mother, they say that even if you break bones, your tendons remain connected. After all, my second brother was born after you carried him for ten months. How can he have the nerve to abandon his own parents for just twenty taels of silver? Even if he is determined to break off the relationship with us, he should at least give us a few hundred or even a thousand taels of silver."
Old Lady Liang felt that what Zhu said made sense. "Yes, I raised him with all my heart and soul, and even married him off. Twenty taels is too little to get rid of us."
Zhu quickly urged, "Mother, you see how hard our life is now. I think, why don't you and dad go to second brother and apologize. Second brother is so kind-hearted, he won't really care about your life or death. If he is really determined not to turn back, you can ask him to give you and dad another 1,000 taels of silver as a severance fee."
When Mrs. Liang heard this, she was really moved. She looked at Mr. Liang and asked tentatively, "Old man, why don't we go find the second son? He can spend so much money to help unrelated villagers, can't he take care of his own parents?"
However, Old Man Liang got angry when he heard this. "You were the ones who wanted to break off the relationship for twenty taels of silver. Now that the second brother's family is getting better and better, you want to stick to them again and extort money. You have no shame, but I, Old Man Liang, still have my face. None of you are allowed to disturb the lives of the second brother's family."
Seeing how furious Old Man Liang was, Old Lady Liang and Mrs. Zhu were so frightened that they dared not say a word. Neither of them dared to mention going to look for Old Man Liang again.